Page 24 - Simply Vegetables Summer 2023

In praise of the Cabbage family
RON NUTTALL
This year the ever-dependable cabbage will find itself as an even more essential food supply. Finely chopped hearts will prove acceptable during the current shortage of lettuce, the main constituent of salads.
With new club root resistant varieties and protection from pests with fine mesh- netting, this useful vegetable is both easy to grow and to cook.
All the year-round cabbages are valued by looking good on a plate and adaptable when made into Coleslaw with mayonnaise, pickled with vinegar or as a stir fry.
Cabbage has always had its
historical difficulties
Can you recollect when older varieties were dark green, with a strong taste and an even stronger smell whilst being boiled for half an hour on a Sunday morning? Why school dinners had such a bad name and only making it fit for the family rabbit
Proficient growers have always taken advantage of the first-rate varieties obtainable and suitable for every season
of the year: ‘Spring,’ Summer,’ ‘Autumn,’ ‘Red’ and ‘Winter Savoy,’ these are the main choices providing open use all the year round. Thinking of the old favourites? Greyhound, Hispi and January King, are still popular and for good reasons.
My two easy routines for
growing cabbages
On Valentine’s Day, I start by sowing my first Sweetheart cabbage seed under
cover and the summer growing season gets off to an early start for both planting and harvesting. Sweetheart cabbages are popular in our house, quick to grow, easy to use and available in good quantity during the summer.
At the end of May, knowing full well that each variety will mature at its scheduled and designated time, I plant a mixture of varieties in one bed
A regular supply of cabbage will be available in our house until after Christmas. Each one maturing in quantity and quality, controlled by its variety and the amount of space made available.
A year looking after the cabbage patch
• Before the end of November and during the early months of winter all the soil
is turned over on the plot, trenching-in any available organic matter because
Cabbage ‘Deadon’
the cabbage family prefer to grow in a firm seedbed, I leave it to settle before treading it down at planting time
• February. The soil is prepared for planting by giving it a sprinkling of lime supplemented by one handful of Blood Fish & Bone, a quick acting organic fertilizer, to each square yard, generally
after a fall of rain.
• Towards the end of the month, when the
expense, planning and hard work of the year is over, I choose the best seed that I can buy. F1 varieties are always a good choice as I need reliable results from such an important crop.
• April transplanting. When the module-
24 Simply Vegetables